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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Sunday, March 15, 2009

I've seen a lot of amazing cakes, people, but even I can't believe my eyes on this one:

According to these newsarticles, this life-sized Barbie doll is actually cake. Seriously.

That's pastry chef Jean Michel Raynaud there, too, unveiling his chocolate mud-cake Barbie in honor of the doll's 50th anniversary. (According to an interview he did here, Raynaud is the creative director of Sweet Art in Sydney.)

But let's get back to this "cake", shall we? (Still wrapping my brain around this - bear with me.)

Obviously not all of this creation is edible, but that's true of all cake masterpieces so I'm not going to quibble. Especially because in addition to the gold tulle skirt, two thousandSwarovski crystals were used. Sweet and sparkly - me likey.

Considering that the skirt base is most definitely cake if any of it is, I am particularly wowed by the super realistic "fabric" draping and stretching around the "knees":

When you consider that was carved out of a dense chocolate cake, it truly is a jaw-dropping work of art.

That's Australian model Erika Heynatz "cutting" the cake. Really, I think they just had her stick a knife in to show it's not a mannequin. Unless anyone has photos of this being served up? Let me know!

Okay, I know it's gorgeous and all, but this is a waste of resources (like money) that just sickens me. Like having solid gold fixtures in your bathroom. Maybe I don't always clean my plate, but seriously, did they KNOW there are kids starving in Africa??? And a giant edible Barbie still rated higher? Disgusting.

There are more photos at http://tinyurl.com/ckmanr I'm thinking any food product that gets it's hair done by Joh Bailey & is wearing $50k worth of jewellery isn't likely to be actually eaten (much less photographed being eaten)...lol.

I'm thinking that cake is entirely too realistic. I hope they didn't really cut it up in front of those pony-tailed and pig-tailed little girls or their parents and caregivers will be answering screams in the middle of the night from Barbie nightmares for years to come.

Sixth picture if I remember correctly. At least it was the gown and not Barbie herself who got eaten. Also, kids eat cakes and goodies in shape of animals and even people all the time, so perhaps we can give them credit to not have nightmares about the skirt cake.

Well, here goes the old crabapple ME again, but I have to say that while the feat is laudable (and lovely in the way a fairy tale is), the whole Barbie thing has always bugged me for its insinuation that the "perfect" woman should have a neck like a giraffe, legs like paint brushes (with feet the size of a hamster's), a bust like a butt, and a smiling, always-agreeable, and fairly blank expression (kinda like the Miss America pageant contestants' requirements). Real women don't look like Barbie, so she's a goofy role model for smart young girls.I wouldn't worry about the kiddies--I bet they all love to eat cake enough to hack into that!Mmmmmmm...CHOCOLATE...gggghhhhhaaaauuuuggghhh....(ala Homer Simpson).>^~~^<

I think I have a bruise on my jaw from where it hit the floor. The cake dress is stunning. The only problem with edible masterpieces is that they don't last long. The good thing is that they're edible.

While I'm not a huge Barbie fan I know most little girls are. That would have been the party of their little lives!

Um...and please...please...don't equate the Miss America system to the image Barbie gives. Yes in the past that was the ideal look....but things have changed there. The pageant is based on knowledge and the person not just their looks. Now the Miss USA system.......yeah....go right ahead and base the whole image thing on that. *gets a funny taste in her mouth just from saying it. lol*

And seriously, I'd so have asked for a chunk of that cake and giggled.

So honestly when I first opened this, I thought it was a strikingly well done, but still obnoxious bride-buddy like we've seen in the past. Then when I read it was Barbie, *I* wanted to be the one with the knife.And in the additional pictures posted in the comments, it totally looks like the model is desperately trying to upstage the cakey beotch.

it's definitely amazing artistry. I'll give it that. And unlike FreedomFirst I'm okay with stuff like this - after all, it gave the cakemakers work, they had to buy the supplies from somewhere, etc. It stimulates the economy, which lord knows needs it. Plus think of all the happy kids who got free cake.

But I can't get past the whole person-shaped thing. I get that animal crackers are one thing, but...I can't dig cutting up and eating something that looks alarmingly like a human, y'know?

I always find this kind of thing a bit dumb really. I like cakes to look nice when you present them but I also want them to look like you would want to eat them. I mean, why bother make something like that out of cake? Sorry Jen, I've been thinking that about some of the things you've posted for a while 'pretty but ... pointless' The 'Gee whizz, it's made out of cake!' doesn't do it for me, I guess. Shrug.

See, I actually find this kind of wrecky! They used a mannequin for the top, and the top doesn't match the bottom if you know anatomy! The mannequin has the beginning of the hips, but the hips are repeated below. It just looks very disjointed to me.

Sorry, that's the nurse in me talking. This lady's anatomy just looks *wrong*

I think I made the same face as the little girl in the bottom picture at the thought of actually cutting and eating that cake. If you've ever actually chewed on a Barbie or her clothes, you'd know that they taste kinda gross.

Does anyone on here read the comments before posting? Obviously the whole thing is not made out of cake! It's a mannequin. As for the "children starving in Africa" argument. Well then hey, why not just stop all art, music, and industry that are "pointless" because they're such a waste of money. Obviously that is a ridiculous statement. People are allowed to create art no matter what! Come on!

Also, it's not cannibalistic or traumatizing. The whole thing is not made out of cake. It's just the DRESS SKIRT and the rest is a plastic mannequin. Again, READ people, before you comment the same inane statements repeatedly. Educate yourselves!

the reason that atrocious wedding cake bride dup was a wreck is because it looks awful! It looks like a fat slouching hot mess and the barbie one actually looks gorgeous. The craftsmanship between the two is like night and day.

Not to be a spoilsport about this...but I think that the dress, from the hips down is the actual cake part, which doesn't take away any of it's awesomeness. The top looks like actual fabric with the crystals and it is definitely a mannequin. There is still an amazing artistic ability in sculpting the bottom half of the dress and the train(which appears to a have a tulle overskirt attached). Oddly, there are no photos of the Barbie as they are cutting into it, which leads me to believe that the cake was built up around the mannequin, which is also why she isn't falling over.

Sorry to rain on your parade, Jen. The work is still lovely, but in reality, the baker that made the Bride Cake that Tometheus linked showed an extraordinary amount of talent in sculpting the whole face and arms over the stacked cakes(regardless of how wrecky the concept was).

I've gotta say that it's AMAZING...I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I saw it!

My only problem is the way the cake is presented. I understand that the cake was made by a Sydney baker, but why is the Sydney Opera House and the the Sydney Harbor Bridge featured predominantly in almost all of the shots? They're Australian icons, yes... but Barbie isn't. The background kind of takes away from the celebratory nature of the photos, but maybe that's just my opinion. And that model? Get 'er out of there!

Still, it's a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL cake, and the "artist" did a fantastic job !!

What I would like to see is Barbie after her skirt is eaten, and all that's left are crumbs and frosting glops stuck to her legs.

(Insert devil horns here.)

It's really good work. But I was watching Ace of Cakes with spouse the other night, and I can't help but wonder — are some of those magnificant cakes honestly meant to be eaten? I know wedding cakes are, yes, but some contest cakes I wonder about.

you know, they don't actually show the barbie cake being eaten, just CAKE being eaten...

It would be nice (and maybe a little sadistic!) to see them actually cut up the dress skirt cake and serve it. Though, granted, I'm sure they did that behind a curtain since it would involve severing dear, ginormous Barbie in two. While, yes, 6 and 8 year old girls are not going to be traumatized by eating Barbie's dress, I'm sure there would have been a few minor freak-outs if they'd seen Barbie's top half get removed before her (chocolate cake) legs were sliced in to and divided onto plates. ... just like many a girl freaks out when she pops one of Barbie's arms or legs off, or her head...

alison said... "...just like many a girl freaks out when she pops one of Barbie's arms or legs off, or her head..."***********************************Heh-hehhh....we used to do those things to Barbie just for fun. (I had a play doctor's kit.)=^~~^=

Sweet Art made my wedding cake about 12 years ago, and even though it's a work of art, you may consider it a Cake Wreck. I'll find a pic and email it through.You should check out the rest of their work on their website - it's just amazing!

I watch Ace of Cakes all the time and I remember watching one episode where they made the cake for the Harry Potter 5 premier. At the end, they were saying the purposely went to find a knife and plates to cut it because no one else at the party wanted to cut it and they feel that cake is meant to be eaten.

And Jessi, why would you not cut that cake? What's the point of making it out of cake if you're not going to eat it? Otherwise, it just goes in the garbage and that's a huge waste.

This has nothing to do with cake, but... It's the Miss Universe scam that really gets my hackles up. I mean--sure, there are women from all over the world, but not once yet--EVER-- have I seen one single representative from anywhere else. Not EVEN from another planet in our own Solar System, let alone any OTHER planets in the universe!Such blatant discrimination and misrepresentation is abhorrant, and for this it should be boycotted. At the very least!

Hi Every one,My name is jean Michel, and I actually did this barbie from our kitchen in Sweet Art.Thank you for this blog, I was a little worried when I saw the name of the site but am grateful for the compliments. It took a week of work but the final product came out ok.Thank you again for the commentsJM

Being a Sydney Sider I wonder how they kept the Seagulls away - think the ones in Finding Nemo, and you've got the right idea. I hope they got some, I'm not a big Barbie fan. Cake Barbie beats the 'Model'(never heard of her to be honest) hands down, which is a tribute to the decorators and gives her some more respect from me - Classy Barbie, that is. :)

And its a habit here to show off by putting too many Swarovski crystals on anything :/

There are pics here http://www.wireimage.com/ItemListings.aspx?igi=357712&nbc1=1 of them eating the cake. From what I can tell, they cut from Barbie's backside to serve the cake. Yikes. Or something.~Laurie

I like this cake very much, even though "only" the skirt is cake. Still awesome. And Barbie is too--really, it's not as if she's the sole source of poor body image in girls and the rest of society's ills. If you're actually trying to parent, you can probably combat 11 inches of plastic.

I love the irony of impossibly proportioned Barbie being made out of mud cake. If it's true that "you are what you eat" I think I should go on a mud cake diet and maybe then I'll have legs to my armpits and boobs that defy gravity.

Sweet Art is fantastic, so happy to see them featured on Sunday Sweets (I submitted their My Little Pony cake for the 80's theme). They made my 40th birthday cake using the colour and style of my favourite 1920s teaset - amazing. Such a gorgeous cake, and extremely delicious too.

I haven't been able to find the video of it, but the story of the barbie cake, and Barbie's birthday celebrations where on the news here in Australia. They cut the slices of cake out of Barbie's *ahem&* derriere, it was quite interesting.

It would be disturbingly interesting to watch one of the girls go at the head... I mean, it's an awesome piece of art, but I personally always have trouble eating food that stares back at me. Or points.

Just to clarify, for the benefit of the Anonymous posters who took offense at my comment: It isn't the idea of a Barbie cake that got me upset. It was the 2,000 Swarovski crystals. That's why I was equating it with solid gold fixtures as being wasteful and excessive. And I stand by that. Excess is never appropriate in my opinion. No matter how important you are, or how much money you have.

ah, as always, barbie stirs up controversy...seriously people, this was posted as a testament to artistic endeavors in cake. get off your damn soapboxes and just admire it for what it is. as someone pointed out, this is truly the best example of a 'stick the barbie in the cake' cake. (and a great bit of promotion for the adept cake designer!)

I love the horrified cringe I like to imagine the little girl in the foreground is doing as they stick a serrated knife into her beloved doll. If she were chubby this would be an entirely different story.

"... get off your damn soapboxes and just admire it for what it is."(posted by "mp.")****************************

SIR YES SIR ! *salutes*I WILL admire Barbie Cake! (drops & gives you 10)I WILL get off my soapbox! (drops and gives you 10 more)I want to be JUST like her in my next life. Rich, sparkly, and cakey. But without the knife in the ass.

Oh, very pretty.Why is it always the harbour, though? Can't anything ever happen in sight of Parliament House, or some other city's landmark?

@ Mardek, about 90% of Australians are white (compared to the US's 80%). Since there are 11 children, it's only just out of proportion to the general population. So too, I'd say, is the approximate degree of blondeness (as in, I think there's only about one more blonde than there should be statistically). Having an Asian or Aboriginal kid would have been better, but probably they didn't think any of them looked Barbieish enough. After all, Barbie's standard friends of colour are African and Latina, neither ethnicity common in Australia.

I thought the bridezilla cake was creepy because it was like...an effigy. It was beautifully done, which added to the ick factor. The cake just resembled an individual human way too closely for my comfort.

Hiya! I live in Australia and watched the news report showing the Barbie Cake. I'm not sure how much of the upper torso is cake but her waist down certainly is! As they filmed the Sweet Art Chef cutting into her ass! and serving it on plates lol. I will see if there is a link to show the cake being vut and post the link :)

I went to see that cake in the shop. Cake? Who was talking about a cake. It is a a mannequin. From the top to the bottom! If there was any cake at all it was just a little under a skirt on the backside. It is why you can't see a real cut on all those photos.

I saw this on the news while I was actually IN Sydney. I was kicking myself for not going through with my intial plan of spending that afternoon downtown....wandering around the Quay and the Botanical Gardens!!

Does anyone know how much of her was actually cake??? I should have known it'd be on cake wrecks, my fav blog! =)

To Freedom First: You feel it's disgusting to waste money on Swarovski crystals on a cake. I agree with you. But here's the thing: If we're getting right down to it, making that cake at all is wasteful. Spending money on a party to celebrate the anniversary of a doll is wasteful. Taking photos of the wasteful party is wasteful, and spending our time arguing about it on a blog is wasteful. We could be spending all this time and money trying to help those starving children in Africa, but we're not. I'm not saying you shouldn't be disgusted with the excess, I'm just saying that maybe if you're REALLY interested in helping the starving children of Africa or anyone else in need, you should do something more productive than making negative posts on a cake blog. Perhaps instead of just calling it disgusting, you could have provided a link to the website of a worthwhile cause and suggested that people spend the same amount of time learning about that cause as they spent ogling the Barbie cake and reading your self-righteous post... and mine, for that matter.

Damn, that is the most beautiful mannequin/cake model I have ever seen! Damn, big props to the cake creator and sculptor of the first part.

But I am like FreedomFirst in that I CRINGED when I heard that 2,000 crystals were used for it. I mean, I know people sort of do it all the time, especially with art (i.e. edible gold dust for mock Oscar modeled desserts, etc.) and not that that is particularly wrong. But I will say that I am glad the crystals were used on the mannequin portion only (it looks like it,who would EAT crystals?) so that there is a chance that the crystals and even the gown will be reused or preserved for future use. And that way, unlike the cake portion, the top part will be preserved so his art will be appreciated longer. The skirt-only cake portion is actually a great idea in terms of preserving the art, as well as show off the skills of the artist without excessive energy wasted on a limited time-product such as a cake.

However, I do think that using crystals (which I can humbly assume were used for the glamour affect and its high status) instead of cubic circoniums and other products that could've possibly had the same affect, produce the same beautiful art and appreciation without the placement of the reputable crystals, was a bit much.

While FreedomFirst and Suburban Hypocrite seem "self-righteous", why have gold fixtures in your bathroom when you can have fake gold fixtures, why care about the spending habits of others (especially if the end product is good) and why try to impose an agenda completely different from the context this cake/mannequin was illustrated as?

I miss the old Barbie. Even with the size DD bra, she was more realistic than this one. This cake's hips are skinnier than her knees for pete's sake!!!! Is she supposed to be a commentary on modern woman's lack of need for birthing hips?

My husband works in the industry and when they elaborate cakes, a lot of time, they are decorated styrofoam with a single piece of cake just to show that it can be "cut". I think it's ridiculous, but it's apparently very common. Chances are that's what this "cake" is, and why it's so intricately sculpted. Personally, my husband prides himself on making cakes that are not only 100% edible, but 100% cake (meaning no rice and marshmallow "cakes").

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